Oregon's Governor Resigns Amid Ethics, "Green Energy" Scandal

Oregon's four term Democrat governor John Kitzhaber announced his resignation last week amid growing pressure from an ethics investigation and reports that his fiancée was involved in a 'Green Energy' pay-to-play scheme.

According to media reports, Kitzhaber's fiancée- Cylvia Hayes- acted in a rather dubious triple role, acting as Oregon's de-facto First Lady, the governor's 'green energy' adviser and a paid consultant for the 'green energy' industry. However, while serving as Kitzhaber's unpaid energy advisor, Hayes reportedly pocketed $118,000 in consulting fees from various green energy lobbying firms- including some tied to billionaire democrat donor Tom Steyer- that she failed to disclose on her ethics filings for the governor's office.

While serving as an unpaid policy adviser for the governor’s office, Ms. Hayes collected $118,000 in fellowship and consulting fees from the Clean Economy Development Center, a Washington-based nonprofit, for work on low-carbon fuel standard legislation in Oregon.

Ms. Hayes never disclosed the payments on her ethics filings for the governor’s office.

The Clean Economy Development Center went out of business after the IRS pulled its tax-exempt status. Before it did, the center received funding for Ms. Hayes‘ fellowship from another nonprofit, the Energy Foundation, which in 2012 received $200,000 in funding from Mr. Steyer’s “TomKat” Charitable Trust, according to the group’s latest 990 tax form.

The Energy Foundation hired Ms. Hayes directly in 2013 for communications work, giving her a contract of $50,000, according to documents and interviews.

The web of payments, the failure to disclose and questions about influence peddling have prompted the state’s attorney general to open an ethics investigation. Republican state lawmakers also have demanded a suspension of the new fuel legislation, which would keep Oregon’s low carbon fuel standards in place instead of expiring this year.

Hayes is also suing The Oregonian in a move designed to prevent the release of e-mails she sent while working as a consultant to the governor. Her lawyers argue that Hayes is technically not a public official, despite closing some e-mails with the initials FLO- First Lady of Oregon.

These wouldn't be the first shady dealings that Hayes was involved in. In 2002, Hayes reportedly accepted $5000 to take part in a sham marriage to an Ethiopian immigrant and in the 1990s she was accused of participating in a scheme to buy acreage in Washington state to grow marijuana on.

Meanwhile, the FBI and IRS are investigating Kitzhaber, Hayes, former staffers and state officials on possible charges of tax evasion and influence peddling while the Willamette Week released more of Hayes' emails that indicated she sought to leverage her position with the governor to land additional lucrative contracts.

Blue State Graft Watch: Issues Galore in Early Round of Illinois Elections

My my....just like I started up the 'Blue State Graft Watch' segment fully anticipating the loathsome Kwame Kilpatrick to make the headlines at some point, I figured it was only a matter of time before Chicago made an appearance as well.

Now.....where to start?

Illinois State Treasurer and one-time Obama fundraiser Alexi Giannoulias was the winner of this weeks Democrat Primary for the US Senate seat left vacant by President Obama's election.

While running for state treasurer, Giannoulias touted his experience as vice president and chief loan officer of Chicago-based Broadway Bank. However, records show that the financial institution loaned an estimated $12 million to convicted pimp and bookmaker Micheal 'Jaws' Giorango and another $10 Million to father and son Russian mobster duo Boris and Lev Stratievsky. Convicted influence peddler, developer and then-Senator Obama's personal real-estate agent Tony Rezko bounced a series of six-figure checks from his Broadway Bank account while in Las Vegas. Giannoulias' father, the Broadway Bank's CEO also donated $10,000 to disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich

However, the DNC candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois has some issues of his own. The Chicago Tribune revealed that the unelected Pat Quinn's running mate Scott Lee Cohen, aka the Pawnbroker, faced domestic battery charges in 2005 for holding a knife to the throat of this then live-in girlfriend prostitute. The Chicago Sun-Times also learned that Coen reportedly owes his ex-wife nearly $54,000 in child support, was taking steroids and had a restraining order filed against him by his ex-wife in 2005.

Correspondence Committee contributor 3wood thinks that this was more or less by design on the part of the Chicago press for the benefit of Pat Quinn's campaign:

Notice how the Chicago media did not break this story until the day after the election. They knew about it, but pretty much sat on it.

Also telling was the Chicago media's nearly mute reaction to Nobel Laureate and former Polish President Lech Walesa's visit to the city that's home to over 1 million Poles this week. While in Chicago, the anti-communist leader endorsed longshot Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski, issuing the following statement:

“I still remember when some 30 years ago, my opponents were similarly critical of my lack of political background. History has shown, however, that in order to create real change, new factors are sometimes necessary.”

Maybe it was just a slow news week in Chicago, nothing more.

[Hat tip: 3wood, Friends of Ours]

UPDATE:Founding Bloggers has more on the Lech Walesa 'non-events' in Chicago.